steuaut's planter's guide. 



285 



stocks, we have found the reverse to take place, no 

 doubt owing to those with largest vessels swelling 

 the most, there being the same number of vessels 

 above and below the junction, each corresponding, 

 or being a continuation of the other But this 

 small Siberian crab, when ingrafted upon a common 

 crab, grew fully as quickly during several years as 

 the Fulwood under the same circumstances ; and the 

 timber, though of much finer texture, scarcely ex- 

 ceeded the other in hardness. Sir Henry tells us, 

 that the oak is less durable in Italy and Spain than 

 in England f . We tell Sir Henry, that the red- 

 wood pitch-pine from Georgia and the Floridas, on 

 the confines of the torrid zone, is more durable 

 than the red-wood pine from Archangel, on the 

 confines of the frigid zone. But does this fact re- 



* The fineness of vessel or fibre of the Siberian crab, may be 

 induced by the arid warm air, the continued radiation of heat and 

 light upon the portion above ground, and the coldness of the ground 

 around the roots during the short summer in Siberia, where the 

 air and surface of the ground is warm, and vegetation progressive, 

 while the ground remains frozen at a small depth. Like all va- 

 rieties of plants habituated to colder climate, the Siberian crab 

 developes its leaves under less heat than varieties of the same kind 

 which have been habituated to milder climate. 



f We have not taken Sir Henry in the literal sense. Timber 

 is well known to decay sooner in a warm than in a cold country, 

 cceteris paribus. 



